[KS] candlelight demonstrations in Korea and the beef deal issue

[Alice S. Kim]

Dear David,

As much as you and Scott may not appreciate a 'left-leaning'  
perspective on the SK candlelight vigils against the reduced  
restriction US beef import agreement, I also felt uncomfortable  
reading your response, and the direction in which it clearly leans:

, David Scofield wrote:
> I second Scott's observations.
>
> It would also be helpful if the article touched on the other side of  
> the trade
> issue: South Korea is asking, for example, that the US declare Korea  
> free of
> foot and mouth disease and to allow the import of Korean beef into  
> the US. They
> are also seeking agreement on the relaxation of restrictions on the  
> import to
> the US of canned ginseng chicken. And of course the larger issue of  
> a free
> trade agreement with the US and Korea's inclusion on the visa waiver  
> list.
> These street demonstrations - like so many in the past - are a way  
> for the
> South Korean government to leverage the US in negotiations.

There are two reasons why I don't think these trade demands by the  
South Korean government needed to have been included in the article  
for it to appear non-biased.  First, the article was intended to  
address why South Korean citizens have been hitting the streets,  
protesting for over a month now (and having grown exponentially in  
recent weeks) over the US beef import agreement (which quickly spread  
to other controversial neoliberal reforms introduced by Lee Myung Bak,  
like the canal project, his education policies - which the high school  
students abhor as much as the reduced restriction beef agreement - and  
plans to privatize healthcare and water, among others) and not an  
article based on the KorUS FTA agreement (which is related to the beef  
imports since it is a  conditionality imposed by US lawmakers for  
potential ratification of the  KorUS FTA, but not part of the official  
FTA agreement or the principle issue behind these protests).   
Moreover, If you are alluding to the fact that potential Korean beef   
and canned ginseng chicken imports may be a health risk for Americans  
if imported then that is a grievance that should be addressed to and  
blamed upon the US govt. and its negotiators and lawmakers if the FTA  
is eventually ratified, and perhaps mobilized amongst American  
citizens to oppose it (like the South Koreans protestors are doing  
with the beef), not blamed upon the South Korean protestors to the  
beef agreement or even the S. Korean government as their hypocrisy.   
The KCTU in SK and the AFL-CIO and the UAW in the US jointly oppose  
this FTA deal -- and the reason for these protests appear to be the  
South Korean government's generous compliance with the US demands so  
far (including reducing safety restrictions on the beef imports -  
which the protesters want renegotiated).

Second, you appear to be making a dangerous conflation between the  
South Korean citizens who are participating in these demonstrations  
AGAINST the South Korean government  AND the South Korean government.  
The people and the state are not the same thing, nor do their  
interests always overlap.  To even imply that the significance of  
these demonstrations is merely a leveraging tool by the LMB government  
as a measure to get a more advantageous trade deal vis-a-vis the US is  
ludicrous, offensive, and patronizing to the hundreds of thousands of  
people attending rallies chanting "Lee MyungBak Resign!"  There is a  
difference between how the government attempts to use the protests in  
negotiations with the US and the actual antagonistic relation between  
the SK government and the protesters. Your conflation of the state and  
people and your implication that these Koreans are just sheep being  
steered by their leaders, are at best, sloppy, and at worst  
Orientalist:  the premise of your argument being - Koreans can't  
actively participate in a democracy because they have a follow-the- 
leader mentality.  Some may consider these massive protests a sign of  
a healthy democracy. How else are people supposed to register their  
complaints and make their voices heard? What does a politically  
engaged citizenry look like for you?

(BTW, LMB's approval rating having fallen to 20% from over 60% when he  
was first elected has been reported in papers of all stripes.)


> I sense the author is new to Korea and may not be aware that that  
> 'spontaneous'
> outpourings of emotion by Korea's netizens are anything but  
> spontaneous.
> Rather, as in the past (the 'poisoning' of the Han; the accidental  
> death of the
> two middle school students; Onno; the Liancourt rocks - Dokdo -  
> fiasco...),
> these demonstrations are the result of careful and deliberate agit  
> prop by
> certain groups (PSPD, Green Korea, Korea teacher's union) and  
> sympathetic media
> in S. Korea.

It also does not necessarily follow that considering South Korean  
netizens' outpouring of emotion as 'spontaneous' has to do with the  
fact that the author must be "new to Korea." This may not be the first  
time that demonstrations have been initiated among netizens, but that  
does not invalidate the fact that they did spontaneously begin and  
have been sustained (and grown) among average citizens on the internet  
and not by social movements.  One of the most interesting and amusing  
aspects of the continuing mobilization of these protests is the  
'agora' phenomenon. Agora went from being a message board on the Daum  
internet portal site to acquiring its own Flag/Banner during the past  
month of demonstrations!  I've been puzzled by the numerous 'agora'  
flag/banners flying at the protests.....but then there are banners for  
'anti-lee myung bak' as well as other ad hoc 'groups'. These flags/ 
banners are quite different from the Democratic Labor Party or the   
KCTU (the korean confederation of trade unions) flags or other  
'organized' social movements who have always had a flag/banner.  I  
even heard a first hand account of how the police have been asking  
those arrested at the protests if they were members of  'Agora' -  
confusing this internet message board for an organization.  It's  
interesting to see internet mediums like blogs and message boards  
taking on organizing/mobilization functions for the 'unorganized' as  
the people move from the screen to the streets. While attending these,  
it's hard not to notice that many of the the flags look quite  
different from what you would see at organized protests like the anti- 
KorUS FTA protests that took over the streets all last year (in much  
smaller numbers than these).
You appear to be echoing the unsupported "who's pulling their strings"  
theory drummed up by  ChoJoongDong.  The People's Countermeasure  
Council Against the Full Resumption of US Beef Imports - a coalition  
of various (and not just left-leaning) social movement groups, Ngos,  
unions, community groups, etc. was formed weeks after these protests  
commenced.  They are the rearguard in these protests (pragmatically  
and literally).

> The author would do well to bear in mind that the Korean state has  
> more than
> enough riot police and soldiers to put down any demonstration they  
> deem not to
> be in the government's interest...these street demos happen because  
> the
> political establishment is not at all threatened by them (as long as  
> people
> perceive the enemy to be beyond Korea's shores), and see them as  
> providing
> useful leverage against the Americans, while reinforcing the notion  
> in the
> minds of many young Koreans that threats to Korea always originate  
> from outside
> Korea - it's a useful distraction that has been used by Korean  
> politicians
> since the Korean war, perhaps before.

Considering modern South Korean history and the many protests "deemed  
not to be in the government's interest"  that were violently 'put  
down'  with not a few deaths and casualties (alongside martial law) by  
the military dictatorships, the reason why the deployment of tear gas  
and other forms of military violence are not a matter of light  
consideration for the current government and its "more than enough  
riot police and soldiers" is understandable.  Also, 60 shipping  
containers weighted with sand and welded together in the middle of  
Sejong-ro to barricade the road to Cheongwadae, as well as impending  
resignations of LMB's newly appointed cabinet members DOES signal some  
amount of perceived threat on behalf of the SK government.  And  
lastly, in addition to the monikers '2megabytes' and 'rat' (쥐새끼)  
that Lee Myung Bak has been given by the protesters is 'Public  
Enemy' (공공의 적 ). I believe it is fairly apparent that in  
these demonstrations the people perceive the enemy ("Public Enemy  
number 1") to be much closer to home (via a sentiment - of betrayal -   
shared amongst even those who probably voted him in earlier this year  
but are on the streets today), even if the pressures may originate  
from further away.

The most popular song at these protests is "South Korean Constitution  
Article 1" (대한민국의 헌법제1조), which begins:  "South Korea  
is a democratic republic...".

The second most common is the newly coined song/jingle "Leave office/ 
resign Lee  Myung Bak" - 이명박은 물러나라/물러가라  
(repeated to the melody of "우리들은정의파다").


Alice S. Kim
PhD Candidate
Department of Rhetoric
7408 Dwinelle Hall, #2670
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
kimas at berkeley.edu
kim.alice.s at gmail.com





policebus6.10.JPG

the poster reads: Public Enemy (middle);
top left in red: All country Mouse/Rat catching day; (nickname for LMB)
bottom in white: Opposition to Privatization of water, education,  
health insurance, public service








On Jun 10, 2008, at 12:46 AM, David Scofield wrote:

> I second Scott's observations.
>
> It would also be helpful if the article touched on the other side of  
> the trade
> issue: South Korea is asking, for example, that the US declare Korea  
> free of
> foot and mouth disease and to allow the import of Korean beef into  
> the US. They
> are also seeking agreement on the relaxation of restrictions on the  
> import to
> the US of canned ginseng chicken. And of course the larger issue of  
> a free
> trade agreement with the US and Korea's inclusion on the visa waiver  
> list.
> These street demonstrations - like so many in the past - are a way  
> for the
> South Korean government to leverage the US in negotiations.
>
> I sense the author is new to Korea and may not be aware that that  
> 'spontaneous'
> outpourings of emotion by Korea's netizens are anything but  
> spontaneous.
> Rather, as in the past (the 'poisoning' of the Han; the accidental  
> death of the
> two middle school students; Onno; the Liancourt rocks - Dokdo -  
> fiasco...),
> these demonstrations are the result of careful and deliberate agit  
> prop by
> certain groups (PSPD, Green Korea, Korea teacher's union) and  
> sympathetic media
> in S. Korea.
>
> The author would do well to bear in mind that the Korean state has  
> more than
> enough riot police and soldiers to put down any demonstration they  
> deem not to
> be in the government's interest...these street demos happen because  
> the
> political establishment is not at all threatened by them (as long as  
> people
> perceive the enemy to be beyond Korea's shores), and see them as  
> providing
> useful leverage against the Americans, while reinforcing the notion  
> in the
> minds of many young Koreans that threats to Korea always originate  
> from outside
> Korea - it's a useful distraction that has been used by Korean  
> politicians
> since the Korean war, perhaps before.
>
> A final thought. In July 2000, when the furore centered around the  
> dumping of 20
> gallons of formaldehyde into a drain at US Camp Humphries (the  
> embalming fluid
> was then processed through two separate treatment centers before  
> reaching the
> Han river), headlines screamed that the US army was "poisoning the Han
> river"...street outrage ensued, prompted by Green Korea, the PSPD  
> among others.
> But what wasn't discussed, aside from the fact the chemical had been  
> twice
> treated and posed no threat to the river as a result, was that S.  
> Korean
> hospitals and clinics routinely dump chemicals like formaldehyde in  
> a similar
> way. Nor was the fact that lumber companies upstream of Seoul dump  
> TONS of
> formaldehyde untreated into the Han every year discussed. Neither  
> point was
> allowed to distract Korea's netizens from their rightful rage.
>
> David
>
> Quoting "J.Scott Burgeson" <jsburgeson at yahoo.com>:
>
>> 1. `While cows 30 months of age and older at the time of slaughter  
>> are in
>> general not allowed to be sold for food consumption in the US and  
>> elsewhere,
>> the agreement between the US and South Korean government included  
>> the import
>> of beef from cattle over 30 months old.`
>>
>> Q:　Can you provide a reliable and up-to-date source for the  
>> first part of
>> this statement? I have read elsewhere that beef over 30 months old  
>> is widely
>> used esp. for hamburger meat in the US.
>>
>> 2. `A video of a cow in the US that was unable to walk but was  
>> passed as
>> acceptable to be slaughtered and its beef included in the human  
>> food supply
>> was distributed on the Internet by netizens.`
>>
>> Vague attribution. What was the source of this video? MBC`s PD  
>> Such`op? And
>> did that cow actually have BSE (I have heard otherwise)? Please  
>> provide a
>> clear reference if possible.
>>
>>                         *  *  *  *  *
>>
>> Your article implies that there is insufficient democracy in South  
>> Korea but
>> does not really explain why so few people chose to participate in the
>> Presidential election of Dec. 2007 and thereby register their  
>> democratic will
>> at the institutional level. Political apathy is distinct from lack of
>> democracy. One might also note that the GNP won a majority of seats  
>> in
>> Parliament in April, yet your article does not account for this  
>> phenomenon
>> either (beyond perhaps objecting to it on ideological grounds). Up  
>> until
>> recently the Korean electorate was seemingly conservative, which  
>> again is
>> distinct from lack of democracy.
>>
>> ChoJoongDong have their biases but many of the left-leaning sources  
>> you site
>> approvingly in your article have their biases as well, which  
>> renders the
>> persuasiveness of your analysis somewhat less than it might  
>> otherwise be.
>>
>> --Scott Bug
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> -- 
> Commercial Property Research
> Department of Town and Regional Planning,
> University of Sheffield,
> c/o 220 Sable Creek Drive
> Alpharetta, GA
> USA, 30004
>
> T: +1 770 676 7463
> M: +1 678 602 0753
> Department website: http://www.shef.ac.uk/trp/
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20080612/1e397576/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: IMG_4900.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 18029 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://koreanstudies.com/pipermail/koreanstudies_koreanstudies.com/attachments/20080612/1e397576/attachment.jpg>